Srettha promises to tackle civil servants’ debt problems

Srettha promises to tackle civil servants' debt problems
Power supper: Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, left, is seen with previous perfect ministers Thaksin Shinawatra, heart, and Somchai Wongsawat, who is also Thaksin’s sibling- in- law, at Ban Green Valley in Mae Rim district, Chiang Mai province. ( Pool photo )

Srettha Thavisin, the perfect minister, pledged to pay off the debts of almost three million government employees and emphasized the need to lower interest rates to help ease their stress.

Mr. Srettha&nbsp, who met with the eyes of 11 state companies to discuss how their efforts to pay the debts of civil servants and state workers have been working, said on Friday that the efforts over the past two months have had good outcomes.

He emphasized that if the issue was n’t addressed, the government would continue to work to reduce the common industry’s debt load.

The Bank of Thailand remained business on its position despite Mr. Srettha, who is also the finance minister, saying the heads of different state firms requested that economic institutions lower interest rates to lessen the burden on debtors and make it more manageable for them.

He added that he also requested that the Cooperative Promotion Department ( CPD ) sign the government’s debt settlement plan as soon as possible because many government employees and employees owed large sums to cooperatives of their organizations.

The prime minister promised to speak with the management of the Student Loan Fund ( SLF ) about the possibility of lowering interest rates for defaulters who are subject to 18 % interest annually.

Pol Gen Kittirat Phanphet, assistant police chief who serves as deputy head of the state commission on people’s debts, told the appointment on Friday that out of 3.1 million civil servants, around 2.8 million cooperatively owe more than 3 trillion baht to the cooperatives of their organisations.

He claimed that while these people do make bills, some still have hardly enough to pay their rent after paying their debts.

They are in need of immediate support, he noted.

According to Pol Gen Kittirat, non-performing debts are rising across all different types of banking, and that appropriate laws will need to be amended to allow for effective debt negotiation and settlement.

Gen Sanitchanok Sangkhachan, the ministry’s continuous minister, stated to the audience that the government has taken a number of steps to assist its personnel who are facing financial difficulties.